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Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Things are winding down here and I am looking forward to a little time off. I may even work on a piecing project this weekend. Or quilt my sister's quilt, because being the quilt top making sister of a longarmer is like being the cobbler's child. Even Mom's quilts seem to take priority over hers. Good thing she loves me anyway, because I have had this top for more then a year!
Christmas day will be spent with my hubby's family. Which of course, means a good douse of twin spoiling. It is always fun to get to see the world through their adorable, five year old eyes. Do you think they would agree to stop getting older? But then again, ever year there are more things that we can do with them, so on second thought, maybe getting older is a good thing too.
While I am enjoying my time away from the Showroom, I am hoping to find the motivation to work on getting all the Quilt Path tutorials into a better all in one place form. My goal is to have a rough draft done before I go to Austin next month for Quilt Path Camp. I never truly get that far away from work. I love what I do and it just hard to stop sometimes.
I hope that you get to spend the rest of your holiday season, with those you love! And hopefully doing things you like to do too! 2014 has been a fun and wild ride here and 2015 is starting to look just as crazy! Wishing you more happiness, joy and fun that you can handle!

Friday, December 19, 2014

I am getting myself ready for the next Quilt Path Camp. There are still spaces in both of the Texas Quilt Path Camps.
Quilt Path Camp - Austin
January 13-16, 2015
Camp will be held at The Stitching Studio in Austin.
Quilt Path Camp - Dallas
January 20-23, 2015
Camp will be held at APQS Texas, which is inside Quilt Country in Lewisville, Tx.
If you are interested in attending either camp, please contact Angela!
919-576-9897

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Today we are going to do math. Hang in with me, I promise it is not going to hurt! I am going to show you how I break borders into blocks to place designs. I have done this for as long as I have quilted, way before I got my Quilt Path.

We are going to use the measurements of the quilt, which I am working on today. Normally when we measure quilts we do an edge measurement. This quilt is 44.5 inches X 68.5. It has two borders. I am going to set blocks into the outer border that is 4.25 inches wide, seam to outer edge. Because I am setting blocks, I will also need to know the length of the seam line that is joining the outer and inner border.

For our sample the seams are 36 inches on the width and 60 inches on the length. Here is where the math comes in.

The first thing we need to do is take into account the space the binding will cover. I like to end my designs a little bit inside where my customer are going to bind. For most quilters that is somewhere between 1/4 and 3/8 of an inch. So, I take 1/2 inch off the width of the border strip measurement.

4.25-.05=3.75

Now, I want to know how many blocks I can put in the length of the border so I will divide the seam length by 3.75

60/3.75=16

I really did not plan this, but in this cause is divides evenly. We also need to divide the width seam by 3.75.

36/3.75=9.6

Coming up with strange number like that is going to be more normal then getting a whole number. We get to decide how we are going to quilt .6 of a block. Can't you just see that squished block jumping off the border at you? Blech! What I am really going to do is simple rounding. In our sample... under .5 do 9 blocks, over .5 do 10 blocks.

For our 3.75 inch blocks we are looking at needing to reduce each of the block with by .15 inches. Seriously, just fudge them a little smaller. I don't sit here with a measuring tape making each block the exact same size at that small of a difference. I get them close, but I don't stress over it. If was .25 per block, or larger, I would get out a ruler. The more you do it the more you will trust your ability to fudge.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

I have started working on getting the information from the Tech Sunday posts into PDF for Quilt Path Camp. I have finally gotten them all in a single, very large, PDF. It is a VERY rough draft. I am hoping to start editing it after the next Quilt Path Camp, which is starting on Tuesday. In a perfect world, it will be done before the Great Texas Quilt Path Camp Road Trip in January.

Eventually it will be in the order that I teach Camp. But for now, it is in the same order as the list on the Quilt Path tab of my website. There are lots of typos and the formatting changes many times. At some point it will be come a shiny, pretty document, but for now at least it is all in one place.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

This week we are talking about mirrors. Mirrors are used to duplicate design elements when created designs. To play with mirrors we will need to go into PatternCAD. From the Home screen, under Design & Create, tap on Pattern.

On the right side of PatternCAD, we will be working in Draw under the Mirrors heading.

You want to make sure the Mirrors button is selected so that you will see the reflections.

You will notice that some of the buttons look familiar. Let's start by drawing a straight line. Make sure the Node Spacing is off.

The Double Sided button is not selected. When you draw a line you will get a single bold green line.

Now switch to Draw under the Pattern heading. And draw a single line that bisects the mirror line.

It really does not look like anything has happened. This is because we do not have a second mirror line to reflect what we did on the first line. Go back to Draw under the Mirrors heading and draw a second line.

You will now see the line and the reflection of what you drew on the first mirror. The bold green line is the initial mirror line.

Now let's see what happens when we draw with the Double Sided button selected. When you draw a line with Double Sided selected, it looks just like it does when it is not selected, the difference happens when you draw on it. Now got the Draw under the Pattern heading.

Notice that I get a reflection of what I am drawing on the opposite side of the mirror line.

When I add a second mirror line I get a reflection of the entire design.

If I turn off the Double Sided option, I get a reflection of just what I initially drew.

It is easy to think that the mirror feature is not working, just by choosing an option incorrectly. Just drawing a single mirror line, does not really do anything for you. You need to switch to the Pattern drawing tools to get anything to happen. If you are using Single Sided mirrors you need multiple mirror lines to see anything happening. Double mirror lines make things happen on both sides of the line and can also be used to create multiple motifs on addition lines.

In this template you will notice you have two green lines. A bold line on the left of the triangle and a lighter green line on the right. We will be drawing next to the bold line on the left in the bottom left small triangle. This is a double mirror so we will get 3 repeats of our design.

We will be drawing an Arc line from the top of the small triangle to the bottom left corner. Remember that you will want your Node Spacing off and Continuous Lines selected. The directions on how to do this are in the Triangle Template 1 tutorial.

Once you have the three Arc lines drawn we will want to got to Edit under Pattern, on the right panel and select all. You will need to be viewing nodes to see the arc handle. When you select and pull the lines in the bottom left triangle, all of the reflections of that like will also curve.

When you curve all three lines, you get a continuous curve design.

You can also double the triangles by adding and curving a small triangle inside the first triangle.

If you want a curvier line, use a Spline line. You can also draw your own designs.

The Green line that bisects the triangle is a mirror. Mirrors let you draw on part of a design and then they fill in the other part or parts of the design. In this case it is a single mirror, so you will be getting a single reflection of what you are creating. You will want to be in Edit under Pattern on the right panel of PatternCAD, have your Node Spacing off and have Continuous Lines Selected.

As we did in Triangle Template 1, we will be drawing arcs to make a Continuous Curve motif. In this case we will want to only draw the line on the bottom to the mirror. You will start at the top, draw an Arc line from that point to the bottom left corner then tap on the point where the mirror line and the bottom line of the triangle touch and then tap the top corner. This will draw the three Arc lines so that we can curve them.

Notice that when we click on and pull the handle for the Arc line on the left, the line on the right also curves.

You can curve all three lines.

If you need your quilting to be more dense, you can add a triangle into the center after you click the mirror point at the bottom and then click the top point.

If you want to have a more curvy look, like Terry Twist, you would use a Spline line.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Today we are going to be talking about Triangle Templates. Tap on Triangle Template 1.

Notice that it puts a triangle on the bottom layer of Design & Create.

You can tell it is on the bottom layer, because it is a blue line and if you are showing nodes, you will not see nodes.

You can swap layers and move it to the top layer if you want to, or you can design with it on the bottom layer and then choose whether or not to merge the layers. For this tutorial, let's say we have a quilt that has flying geese on it and we want to do continuous curve in them.

On the right side of PatternCAD, you will want to click on Edit under Pattern. The tap Arc. We will want our Node Space off, so make sure that the button is not selected ant that there is not a number between the - and + buttons. We will also be using the Continuous Lines features, so make sure that it is enabled.

Then you will draw a line from the top of the triangle to the bottom left corner of the triangle.

Because we have Continuous Lines, after you draw the first line you just need to tap on the next corner and Quilt Path will draw the second line for you. Then tap on the top and you will get Arc lines on all three sides of the triangle.

Now we are going to edit the lines to make them curve. On the right panel of PatternCAD, tap on Edit under Pattern. And tap on Select all. If you are not seeing your nodes and handles tape the Nodes button on the left panel of PatternCAD. The blue boxes that are on the lines are the Handles for the Arcs. When you tap on them and drag them across the screen they will curve.

You will want to do this on all three of the lines.

This will give you the classic Continuous Curve quilting motif. Depending on the size of your triangle you may need more quilting. When this happens, I like to add a second triangle to my motif.

Or if you use Spline instead of Arc you can do Terry Twist.

Because you can also draw freehand by turning Node Spacing on, the possibilities are endless.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

APQS has Demo Machines that are available for sales. These machines come with a LIFETIME warranty. The machines have been used in workshops, classroom and shows. These machines are available at an awesome discount. A $500 fully refundable deposit will hold a machine. These machines will move fast, call Angela at 919-576-9897!Demo Millie - $16,500 It comes with a NEW 10, 12, or 14 foot table!Free Quilt GlideFree Power Fabric AdvanceThat's a $4000 savings!

Demo Freddie - $15,700

It comes with a NEW 10, 12, or 14 foot table!Free Quilt GlideFree Power Fabric AdvanceThat's a $4200 savings!Demo Lucey - $11,300It comes with a NEW 10 or 12 foot table!That's an $1100 savings!Demo Lenni - $10,300It comes with a NEW 10 or 12 foot table!That's an $1100 savings!Demo George - $6050
That is a $600 savings!

Bliss can be added to any frame system for $1000 on the Demo machines. Quilt Path can be added for $9500.

All machines come with a LIFETIME Warranty, a free beginner's class and a starter kit.

If you want to put a hold on one of these machines. We can do that with a $500 refundable deposit. Call me to reserve one of these machines. 919-576-9897

Sunday, October 5, 2014

When you go to Select Pattern, have you ever wondered what Quad means. During the first Quilt Path Camp we played with Quads. When you off set them the negative space repeats the same design.

In PatternCAD, go to Select Pattern and choose Leaves1.gpf.

With your Nodes on, under Pattern go to edit and Select All.

Then go to Layers on the File Menu Bar and Select Copy to Bottom Layer. Drag the Leaf on the top layer so that it to the right and touching the leaf on the back ground layer. Then Tap the Merge button on the bottom left of PatternCAD.

Now go back to Layers and Copy to the Bottom Layer. Make sure that you have Selected all of your Nodes and then drag the top design so that it is below the one on the background and touching.

Go to Layers - Merge on the bottom left of PatternCad and then you get the design in the screenshot below.

Notice the fifth design that is in the center of the four designs. That is what Quads do. When you place four designs together, the negative space from those designs forms the center design.